Chamber to Ask for Contract, Money to Run Visitor Center
Formal agreement was not renewed in 1997
Krimotat wants $10,000
By Kara Chalmers
The executive director of the Saratoga Chamber of Commerce plans to ask the City Council to reinstate a contract with the Chamber--something that has not existed for the last few years.
At the Chamber's joint meeting with the City Council on May 9, Abby Krimotat hoped to obtain a contract with set provisions, including more money for a city visitor information center, since there is no other tourist office here.
Today, the city pays the Chamber $3,344 per year for this service, but there is no formal agreement. The last signed contract between the city and the Chamber expired in June 1997.
According to Sheila Arthur, who was the Chamber's executive director at the time the contract expired, former City Manager Larry Perlin said that there was no need to sign a new contract because there had been no change in the funding provided by the city since the 1997 contract.
"[Perlin's] words were, 'they had decided renewal was unnecessary,'" Arthur said. Soon after that, Arthur retired and Krimotat took over.
Krimotat said it is important that the Chamber and the city have a formal written agreement that outlines the funds and other services the Chamber receives from the city. And now is the time, since the city is just beginning its budget process for fiscal years 2000-2001 and 2001-2002.
The city allows the Chamber to use its building on Saratoga-Los Gatos Road as its office for a token fee of $1 per year. The Chamber also pays for minimal expenses of the Celebrate Saratoga!, which the Chamber stages every September. These costs include insurance and overtime expenses for some of the Sheriff's deputies and also for Saratoga public works employees, according to interim city manager Bill Norton.
The first draft of the new budget, which the city's staff presented to the council at its meeting April 25, does not include any specific payment of $3,344 to the Chamber for visitor services. But Norton said nothing is cast in stone yet and the council can decide to incorporate that amount or more into the budget. Funding for Celebrate is already incorporated into the public works and public safety expenditures sections of the new budget, according to Norton.
Krimotat said she would ask on May 9, that the city agree to a "substantial increase" in the Chamber's fee for visitor services. She said she would suggest $10,000. According to her, she and her staff answer so many phone calls, emails, faxes and letters concerning tourism and other city information that the sum of $3,344 is not enough. Answering inquiries takes up about one-third of her and her staff's time. She also wants the contract with the city to guarantee the use of the building for the next two years and to guarantee that the city continue to pay for part of Celebrate.
Besides providing visitor information, the nonprofit Chamber is an advocate for the city's businesses. The Chamber also organizes functions that bring the community together, such as the yearly Community Crab Feed and the Citizen of the Year, paid for by member dues and funds raised by Celebrate.
In neighboring Los Gatos, the town has a contract to pay the Town of Los Gatos Chamber of Commerce $20,000 a year to provide visitor information, said town manager Dave Knapp. The money is used for an "information officer" to answer phone calls at a desk in the Bank of America building on N. Santa Cruz Avenue where the Chamber is housed. The $20,000 also pays for printing the town's general brochures. Last year, the town paid the Chamber a one-time fee of $13,000 to develop the town's website.
"There is no funding from the town to run the Chamber," said Sheri Lewis, the Town of Los Gatos Chamber's executive director. "It is a contract for services."
According to Linda Asbury, the executive director for the Cupertino Chamber of Commerce, it is important to make clear that while cities may contract with Chambers for visitor services, it does not mean they are subsidized in any way by the cities. Chambers are hired, as independent contractors, for a specialized service, so that if there is a difference of opinion between the two, the difference won't affect any of the funding.
Saratoga, California Since 1955
